WELCOME to Issue 12 of Crafting Ireland!
As always we have a fun tutorial packed issue for you all. This is
the second issue with our amazing design team in. We hope you
have enjoyed getting to know them and look forward to seeing
more of their work To see our list of design team members click
here.
Some of our design team projects will be featuring over on our
blog also so make sure to keep an eye out over there and maybe
become a follower if you are not already!
We are doing a special Ustream online class on the 25th August
2012. It is at 6pm BST. It will cover creating Christmas cards using up last years paper stocks, so very thrifty and practical but

Submit your work - find out more at
www.craftingirelandonline.ie

2

fun!! We have tried to pick a time that will allow as many of
our readers to attend as possible.
If you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t attend we will be recording the class so you can
watch it later. The class will be hosted here on Ustream. The
supply list will be posted on our blog and website so if you
want to join in on the day please do! The class will be looking
at creating mini layout pages and a standing desk holder for
them.
In the mean time we hope you all enjoy this issue!
Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget you can keep up to date with us on our BLOG

I bought this mask in an Art shop but it is
something you could also make! I decided I
wanted to make a tropical themed mask using
Graphic 45s Tropical Travelogue papers.

Aideen Fallon

What you will need:
 A mask-shop bought or home made
 Patterned Paper - I used Graphic 45s
Tropical Travelogue
 Paint- I used DecoArt paint in Bronze
 Embellishments
Step 1
Use tracing paper for the areas you want to cover with patterned paper.
Traced them out using the tracing paper to make them easier to cut out!
Step 2
Glue the papers down and pain the rest of the mask using cool bronze paint.
My dad got me a whole bunch of these DecaArt paints reduced in a hardware shop to €1 each.

6

Step 3
Gather some embellishments you
want to use. I wanted to use Prima
flowers, feathers and a bit of tropical
coloured bling.
Step 4
Glue down all the embellishments on
the mask. I also added some prima
pearl centers and some black flat-back
pearl trim from my stash. I think it looks pretty cool. Here it is finished:

And a picture from the other
side-how great are these feathers!
Of course I had to try it on ....

7

One of my favourite lines of paper is Crate Paper. Not just for the quality & design but also
for the fact that its double sided, it’s like double value, I really love this new range called
Story Teller. It’s got that sweet vintage feel to
it. You can use any 3 sheets of co-ordinating paper. I decided to do an 8x8
layout with a family theme to add to my family album. This is a simple way
to document a sweet image you may have of either family members or parents.

Step 2
Cut/punch 4 scallop edges, about 8 inches each, alternatively if you have
cardstock that is already scalloped just trim it (I used “Trademark”).
Step 3
Mitre the edges so they join up at the corners, leaving a little space around
the edge of the card stock.

Step 7
Again free hand-draw the rest of the
tree out of co-ordinating paper (I used
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lifetimeâ&#x20AC;?).
Step 8
Add your title to the layout following
the curve of the tree.
Step 9
Ink a number of autumn coloured
leaves. Bend them slightly and glue
to the layout where the bend is so
they stand off the layout.
Step 10
Add your favourite family image, either of parents, siblings or kids. I journaled the following around the edge
of the layout.....

10

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Like branches on a tree we all grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as oneâ&#x20AC;?

11

I like white space on layouts and also like to use
different media to create backgrounds. This time I
wanted to make a sprayed background but keep it
quite simple. I wanted to enhance the patterned paper more than the
background, so I didn’t use any stencils or other accessories that you could
use with spray inks.

Timi Konya

What you will need:
 A few spray inks in coordinating colours
 Patterned paper
 A few journalling cards and stickers
 1 sheet of white cardstock
Step 1
Spray the darkest colour of the spray inks on the white cardstock, in this case
brown. Let it dry or dry it with a heat tool.
Step 2
Then spray the lighter colours (yellow and green). Let it dry.

12

Step 3
Take the top off of the darkest green colour ink and splatter the ink
diagonally on the page. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to splatter much in the middle,
because that will be covered with patterned paper and the photo.
Step 4
Gather pieces of patterned paper and the photo. Glue them down on the
page, along with some stickers. Curl up the corners of the patterned
paper and journalling cards to add some texture to the page.

Step 5
Add
the
title
and
journalling to the layout
and there you have a very
quick but fun layout.

13

Our family loves decorating for Halloween!
Mary Jo Rhoda
But sometimes those decorations can get
pretty expensive. In the past, I have enjoyed
using recycled materials and my scrapbook supplies to make some inexpensive decorations for our house.
Now these aren’t made to last year after year. And that is fine with me! It
gives me an excuse to make something new for the next holiday.
For this project, I am recycling some cardboard that came in one of my
scrapbook packages to use for the base of my door hangers.
What you will need:
 Piece of 12x12 chipboard/cardboard
 Patterned paper
 Embellishments
 Letter stickers
 Washi tape
 Twine
 Pop Dots
Step 1
I decided to make four separate
door hangers, so I cut my cardboard
into four equal pieces.
One to keep and my son and I decided to share the rest with our neighbors.
14

Step 2
Cover each base with a piece of Halloween themed patterned paper.
Step 3
Embellish each board using Halloween themed stickers, buttons, flowers,
letter stickers, tags, and washi tape. I like to do a lot of layering on my pieces.

Step 4
You will need some twine and a
heavy duty hole punch.
I used the smaller hole punch on
my Cropadile by We R Memory
Keepers.
Step 5
To keep my holes even, I use a ruler to line up my holes. But you
can eye ball it if you feel comfortable doing that.
Once I cut the holes, I threaded each end of a piece of
twine through the front side of each hole and tied large
knots in the back. If your knots slip through, I recommend
securing with a piece of tape.
15

And now I have some simple hanging decorations for Halloween.
To make them a little more durable,
a nice layer or two of Mod Podge
will help. Since I am just making
these as temporary decorations, I
omitted that step.
I would recommend though putting
the Mod Podge on over the flat elements before adding the embellishments
that add depth.

16

17

Kate Walsh

From http://createwithkate.com

CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) hold two major
trade events in the USA every year. For the paper crafter it is the launch
dates of the new paper collections and new products from the very best the
industry has to offer. The bigger CHA Winter show is held in Anaheim on the
west coast every January, while the smaller CHA Summer show is held in
Chicago Illinois…..the Windy City!
What most of you don’t know is that I am lucky enough to have good friends
and family living about 10 mins from where the summer event is held, who
also have children the same age as my son and who have spare rooms and
are only too happy to have visitors (especially when they bring a suitcase full
of Cadbury’s chocolate J Wohoo…CHA, here I come!!!
Ok, so the show was held in Rosemount, which is a large conference complex, consisting of hotels, meeting rooms, conference halls and of course the
show hall (which is probably the same size as the main hall RDS)
To attend the show you have to be a member of CHA and either a retailer /
buyer, professional crafter or designer and I have to admit, it’s amazing!!!

18

In summary
it’s a feast
for the visual
senses, full
of
inspirational products,
projects
and
people who

all love to craft and therefore a lot of fun.
As well as the display floor where all the goodies are launched, demo’ed and
displayed, the CHA run workshop’s and business seminar’s in the meeting
and conference rooms. This is a fantastic part of the show as you get expert
advice on various aspects of the industry; from product design to online
marketing.
The show kick started for me on Monday morning at 7.45 am with registration for a full day of Ranger workshops Yippee!!
First I had Tim for two hours, where we got to make a fabulous festive home
décor piece that also doubled as a pull toy
We got to use his new Christmas paper line which is gorgeous, reminiscent
of 80’s wrapping paper. The class in itself was unusual in that practically
everything was done for you so all you had to do was assemble the pieces.
Which is the only way we could have finished this gorgeous piece. I even
got mine signed on the back , and have a small video taken of it (where I am
tongue tied like a school girl…so embarrassed)
Shopping wish list … Lantern, pulley wheels, Holidays past paper collection
and alterable Christmas Trees!
The second workshop was with Claudine Hellmuth, where we got to do a
mixed media mini canvas using
her product line.
It was a real hands on class with
a very lovely lady who looks
about 20 in real life! She demonstrated two resist techniques
(one using Vaseline), an image
transfer using her matte medium
and we got to play with the melt
pot and beeswax
Shopping wish list … Matt Medium, melting pot!
19

The last workshop I did was with Dyan Reaveley of Dylusions. For those
who haven’t met Dyan before she is
a force of nature with a great sense
of humour and a very talented lady
to boot!
We got to make a gorgeous mini album using the new 10”x10” Kraft
tags ranger has launched. But the
best part was her sprays and
stamps, I just love, love, love her style….fun, quirky and colourful!
Watch this space!!!!
Shopping wish list … Everything Dylusional!
That was the end of the
workshops for me, but only the start of the show…
as the following day the
doors opened for the
main event!!
When you are a retailer and a crafter, it sometimes gets very conflicting as
the business head can conflict with the crafting heart. For me, the show
highlighted the fact that, although it is a retailer event, it is creativity that is
the lifeblood of the industry.
It is us, the crafters, who design the products. We are the
ones who use them. And boy,
do we the crafters make
beautiful things!

20

After making three attempts
to write about the floor, I
came to the conclusion that
the best way to describe it,

would be in a photo and video gallery. So hear are the photos and you can
see more on my blog here and the videos on my you tube channel here.
Happy crafting and keep creating
Kate x

21

For something a bit different on your card why
Robin Funge
not try creating a fun edge! Stamping along the
edge of your card can make a clean and simple
card more interesting or create the illusion of movement. Later, dressing up
the inside of your card, can really make your fun edge pop!!
I love the effect of solid stamps with this technique, but I have done a coloured example as well to give you an idea of how both ways can be special.
Using something like butterflies or birds flying off the edge of your card can
be very beautiful and effective for this technique as well!
What you will need:
 Blank Card Base
 Scissors
 Acrylic Block
 Ink
 Stamp sets of your choice
 Distress Inks and distress tool (optional)
 Copics
Step 1
Starting off with a blank card choose a stamp
set that will work for the edge of your card.
Solid stamps work well for
this type of edge but you
can also use stamps that
need colouring if you like!
22

Step 2
Using an acrylic block ink up the same stamp or multiple stamps and stamp
along the edge of your card base about a centimetre from the edge. Leaving
the small space at the outer edge gives you the option of leaving some
white space when cutting around your stamped images.

Step 3
If you are colouring your images
then I usually colour them before
I cut along the edge of my card.
Be sure to use an ink that works
well with Copics or your own colouring medium, like Memento.
Step 4
Leaving a small white border
around my stamped images I cut
along one edge of the card with
sharp scissors.

23

Step 5
To make my stamping along the
edge stand out, I usually dress
up the inside of the card on the
same edge by stamping, distressing or adhering a small
piece of solid cardstock.

Step 6
I then finish my card by adding any
extra stamping, sentiments or embellishments.

24

Stamping along the edge of
this card gives the animals a
more 3D look and the stamping
and distressing inside adds to
the rustic/farm look.

The stamping along the edge
on the crayon card gives the
illusion that the crayons are
falling and the dark contrasting cardstock inside
makes the cut edge stand
out!

25

This month is an autumn theme. As I have
Sue O’Connell
had a little sort out over the past weeks of my
craft stash, I was determined to use some of it
that has been hanging around for ages like my
mannequin I purchased from a car boot sale for 50 pence and I had ethereal, nature and earth tones running around my head for this one.
Last month I had the pleasure of going to the WOW Embossing Powders HQ
with fellow DT's and we did a technique with foil, flock, embossing powder
and double sided sticky sheets. I loved this technique and so I have replicated it for the skirt on the mannequin.
What you will need:
 1 x mannequin
 Black gesso & White gesso or acrylic paint
 Stamped tissue paper or Tim Holtz tissue paper
 Distress Stains in peeled paint and vintage photo
 Martha Stuart Glitter paint or other.
 Stencil
 Double sided sticky, WOW foils, flock, bark and verdigris embossing
powder
 Printed card & Velvet ribbon
 Mariella die-holly vine & Cherry Lynn leaf stacker die & Spellbinder bauble blossoms 2 & Butterfly punch
Step 1
Firstly, I painted the mannequin in white gesso and
the stand in black. If there is a paint I cannot do
without it is gesso in both colours. It is sooo fantas
tic as a base for anything to cling to. Next I cut Tim
26

Holtz tissue paper into strips and used PVA glue to put it onto the mannequin
body. Once dry, I went over this in peeled paint and vintage photo distress
stain, and then painted over the top, Martha Stuart green glitter paint.

Step 2
The WOW technique came next. Get a stencil -I chose a Dreamweaver leafy
stencil and put in down on one side of the double sided sticky. Take the
different foils, I chose copper, dark blue and green and rubbed this into the
stencil. When pulled away some of it stays in the stencil crevices. After that I
used brown flock and rubbed this over the stencil, putting back in the pot
what I didn't use. I then peeled the stencil off and sprinkled bark embossing
powder over the pattern. The embossing powder stuck to the areas hidden by the stencil.
I then used a heat gun lightly over the picture
and the embossing powder melted and formed
ridges in the pattern. I covered a full A4 sheet
of double sided sticky with the stencil and the
technique then peeled off the back of the
sticky and laid it onto a very colourful piece of
12 x 12 paper. This would mean that when I
27

curled the pieces for the skirt, the backing paper would show through in
some areas and blend with the mannequin torso.

Step 3
I then cut this into 2cm strips, curled one end and glued the other onto the
torso forming a skirt all the way around. I then finished off with a velvet ribbon around the waist, tied at the back.
Step 4
The leaves scrolls are a Marian Designs die-holly vine and Cherry Lynn leaf
stacker die. I then covered these in Versamark and WOW verdigris embossing powder, then went over the dies with peeled paint and vintage photo distress stains once heat set. I then glued them onto the bodice. The glitter
flower is from my stash of Prima flowers and the little flowers are made from
cork with the spellbinder bauble blossoms 2. The butterflies are an Anne
Griffin punch. The watch, key and gem embellishments from my stash.

28

Step 5
The collar around the bodice is made
from the spellbinder bauble blossoms
2 out of parchment paper inked with
vintage photo distress stain.
This is the rear of the mannequin.
I have called this mother earth as it
looks very organic to me and the day I
made it I was in a very calm state even
though the wind and rain were lashing
it down outside, it made me feel all cosy in the house...

If you create something similar, let us see your projects
over at the Crafting Ireland
Facebook page.

29

In Japan, one of the most popular scrapbooking
Aki Iinuma
subjects for autumn is a celebration called “753”. In
November, parents with children of 7, 5 or 3 years
old celebrate their children's growth. Children usually wear kimono (Japanese traditional dress) and go to a shrine with their
parents and/or grandparents.
So, as a part of autumn layouts, I’d like to share this 753 layout. With these
garlands shown in this tutorial you can easily create any kind of celebrationthemed layout.
What you will need:
 Patterned Paper (Sassafras Lass, BasicGrey, Pink Paislee, Cosmo Cricket,
Prima Marketing)
 Chipboard (My Mind’s Eye)
 Flower (BasicGrey)
 Tab (BasicGrey)
 Paper doily
 Tulle
 Game piece (Tim Holtz)
 Glassine paper
Step 1
Punch or die-cut patterned paper
into small circles and stars.

30

Step 2
Sew the circles and stars to make garlands.

Step 3
Glue the garlands to the patterned paper.
Step 4
Then you will need small pieces of patterned paper. Some of them should be
punched or scissor-cut on the edge to make the layout even more fun.

10 Shops confirmed
Lots of classes
Crafting space
Shop window – an opportunity for crafters to show off
their wares
Demonstrations and Make and Takes and challenges



5 Euro entry fee – which includes a
Make , Take, and a Raffle ticket
Classes include – cardmaking, scrapbooking, felting, altered
art, wedding stationery, jewellery,
Find all the info on Facebook – Like Great Big Craft Extravaganza
Or on our blog at greatbigcraftextravaganza.wordpress.com
33

Step 1
I have cut my cardstock down to 6”x4” which will give
me a 4”x3” booklet perfect to go with my charms.
Score all your pages at 3” and fold in half.

34

Step 2
Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to use a LARGE pin to bind my booklet, pierce two holes in the
spine to you can bind it.

Step 3
Attach all your
charmes
to
your booklet.

35

Step 4
I called my booklet August as I will be doing more
of these and just replacing the booklet so I always
have a little journaling spot with me.
I will then bind all the booklets into one.

Step 5
For the inside I printed a photo or
you can use a polariod, I picked up
two leaves from our walk and
included them in the transparency
pockets.

36

37

I love everything about Halloween – the costumes,
Krissy Clark
trick-or-treating, telling scary stories, and spooky
decorations. So, I jumped at the chance to alter a
book, changing it from a regular ordinary story to a
book full of fun, slightly creepy images – along with a place or two to record
favorite Halloween memories.
What you will need:
 A Hardback Book
 Gel Medium
 Gesso
 Acrylic Paints
 Exacto Knife
 Binder Clips
 Scrapbook Papers
 Journaling Tags
 Spooky Halloween embellishments and pictures
Step 1
Start with an ordinary book. It’s important to use a book that has the pages
sewn into the binding, rather than glued in, because the first step will be to
rip out about half of the pages.
This is necessary so that your
book will still be able to close
once you have decorated it.
Step 2
Gather small sections of pages
and glue them together with a
38

gel medium. When you finish, you will
have created four to six sections of glued
pages.
I usually apply binder clips to help the pages stick together while the glue is drying.
Step 3
After your glued pages have dried and
they are nicely stuck together, you will
want to add a coat of gesso to any pages
that you may want to paint.
Since I wanted to get all of my painting out
of the way, I next added a
coat of gesso to the cover
of my book and then painted it with a black acrylic
paint.
Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easier to paint the cover of the book at this stage,
before you start decorating
the pages.
Step 4
Once the cover has dried, you can paint pages in the book if you desire. I
chose to use a combination of painted pages and pages covered in scrapbook paper. For the sections covered in scrapbook paper, I made
sure to first color the edges of my
book pages with black marker.
This creates a nice consistent border if your scrapbook papers
arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cut perfectly to size.
To adhere my scrapbook papers
to the pages of the book, I ap39

plied gel medium to the book page itself as well as to the back of the scrapbook paper. This helps to prevent the scrapbook paper from getting bubbles
or looking lumpy.
Step 5
Next step is to create a niche in one
of my sections of glued pages. First,
I outlined the area that I wanted to
cut out with black marker. Then I
simply took an Exacto craft knife
and cut along the lines.
Depending on the size of your
niche, you will have to cut along the
area several times for the craft knife
to cut down through all your layers
of book pages.
After the pages were cut out, I applied more gel medium to the inside edges
to make sure they were completely
stuck together.

Step 6
After all the paint and glue had
dried, it was time to move on to the
fun part â&#x20AC;&#x201C; decorating my book! I
decorated it the same way I would
decorate a mini-album, using my
scrapbook papers and Halloween
embellishments.
Instead of pictures of my family, I
searched the Internet and found
free spooky images that I printed
out and used.
I created pockets for several of my
pages so that I could insert tags on
40

which I included journaling about a few of my
favorite Halloween memories. Here are pictures of
a few of my pages so you
can see how my book
turned out.

41

We would love to publish your classes and crops here. Whether you are a
shop running crops and classes or just a group of crafty people looking for like
minded people let us know. Simply email your details to submissions@craftingirelandonline.ie

Archangels craft club
Archangels Craft Club - we meet in St. Gabriels Clontarf every Tuesday 7.30 - 9.30pm and do all sorts of crafts - knitting, cross stitch,
card making, beading and scrapping etc.
We are in our 9th year - all very informal but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a place to craft with
like minded individuals. We are always on the lookout for demonstrators and enjoy the social aspect of crafting (along with the tea
and cake!) If anyone is interested in coming along to join us, or maybe there is another club out there who would be interested in doing
a Christmas craft day together please do contact me. Contact Christine at christinehelenokelly@gmail.com or on 0857151759

Create With Kate
Workshops in card making, scrapbooking and mixed media. We also are a
mobile craft supplies shop. Visit createwithkate.com for more information
or phone 087 984 1196.

Crop Tarts
‘Crop Tarts’ are a group of scrapbookers/card makers who have a regular crop
on the 2nd Saturday of each month from 10.00 a.m. until 4.00 p.m. at “Le
Cheile”, Donnycarney Community & Youth Centre, Collins Avenue East,
Donnycarney, Dublin 5.
We are a friendly bunch who like to share our ideas/stash/equipment etc., so
each month we usually have a short demo by one of our members e.g. recent
demos have included crochet flowers and colouring with Promarkers or it
might just be a LO that we are especially pleased with or a new card making
technique.
We are a non-profit making group and the cost of hiring the room for each 4
month session (plus tea/coffee and biccies of course) is divided amongst the
members signing up for that session. This usually works out at about €20 for
each member. €5 for a days cropping away from the children/husbands etc ~
what a bargain !!! (Well we think so!) We welcome new members with open
arms (always nice to see a new face) and your first visit is free.
On Nov 10th we are very excited to be having the extremely talented Dutch
scrapbooker, Lida de Witte do a workshop with us. Lida loves shabby chic,
grungy and distressing without stress and she has agreed to design a project
especially for Crop Tarts. Check out her blog at
http://lidadewitte.typepad.com/laugh-out-loud to see some samples of her
truly amazing creations. As well as Lida’s workshop, there will also be a technique based double paged layout class where we will be experimenting with
different types of mixed media. We have a few extra places available for this
special occasion (which as always will be non-profit making) and the cost for
the full day is only €50 including refreshments and a raffle.
If you are interested in joining us for our monthly crop or for our ‘special’ day
in November please email Isobel at croptarts@upcmail.ie

44

In this tutorial I am going to show you two different Nicole Mullen
methods of masking images. Often we want to mask
an image so that we can ink a background up around it or stamp another
image so that it looks like it is sitting in behind the first image.
Method 1â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Creating a paper mask
Step 1
Stamp your image you wish to use. You can also print it digitally if you wish.
Then stamp or print a second copy of your image this time onto scrap paper.
Step 2
Cut out your stamped image. Be as careful and precise as possible, you want
it to be the same size as your main stamped image. I cut off the ends of the
banner on my hot air balloon as I did not need them in my mask.

Step 3
Place a bit or repositionable adhesive or double sided tape
on the back of your cut out mask. Then stick your mask
over the top of the image you want to protect. Place it on
as precisely as possible to get the best finish.
45

Step 4
You can now ink around your image. Make sure to hold your mask down and
be careful that it does not move however as you don’t want ink getting under
it. When you are done inking you can take your mask off and see the results.

Method 2—Using masking fluid as a mask
I am not going to show you how to do the same thing using masking fluid. This
is a medium that artists use when water colouring to stop colours bleeding or blending
into previously painted areas. It costs about
€9 in most art stores and a bottle goes a
long way.
Step 1
To use the fluid first you need to shake well.
Then you will need a very fine tipped paint
brush so that you can apply it as precisely as
46

possible. You will then simply paint a thin layer of it over your image making
sure to keep inside your lines.
Tip: This will work on coloured and uncoloured images. It also has a slight
yellow tint to it which makes it easy to see where to apply.

Step 2
Let it dry fully, this takes about 3-4 minutes depending on how heavy a coat
you put on it. When dry you can then ink right over the top of it. The masking fluid acts as a resist medium.
Step 3
When finished inking you remove the masking fluid by rubbing at the edge
of it with your finger or an eraser. It then starts to peel off like a rubber skin.
When it is all peeled off you are done!

47

Comparison
Below on the left is the image I masked with the scrap paper cut out. On the
right is the image I masked with the masking fluid. You can see how I got a
much better and closer finish with the masking fluid.

I also used the fluid to mask a stamp to repeat stamp. I stamped a jar image
and painted a layer of the fluid on it. When dry I stamped over this with the
jar stamp again. I peeled off the masking fluid and was left with two jars
looking like they were sitting one slightly behind the other. Doing this means
you wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see un-necessary lines from the second stamping through the first
image.

48

49

Mina Hartley
In every issue we will be spotlighting the work of an Irish based crafter. We
will look at paper crafters, scrapbookers, and altered art aficionados. If you
think you know someone who you think sound be spotlighted let us know
at info@craftingirelandonline.ie
This issues spotlight is shining on Mina
Hartley. Here is Mina to tell us a bit about
herself and her work....
I’m originally from the North East of England but always came to Ireland for holidays as my Dad is from the North coast of
Ireland, eventually we came here to live
after we were married for a few years.
I have been married to Phil my Husband
for 36 years (yes I know it’s a long time isn’t it) and have known him since I
was 15, we have one amazing Daughter aged 27 who we adore to bits. We
live on the North Coast in County Londonderry. I gave up work through very
ill health when my Daughter was still at school and luckily enough have never had to go back (more time to craft).
W hen and h ow di d y ou get i nvol ve d w i th paper cr af ti n g?
Until a few months ago my Husband
worked away so I had a lot of spare time
to fill and have always been crafting in
some form, my Mum taught me to sew
and knit etc but painting and designing
was always my thing. I saw a craft pro50

gram on a shopping channel about 4
years ago and though ‘oooohhhh I would
like to have a go at that’, so of I went to
the shops and found it almost impossible
to find anything for cardmaking so instead I bought some wrapping paper with
huge roses on it and did my first ever
piece of decoupage and I have never
stopped from then.
What i s your f av our i te asp ec t of paper cr af ti n g?
I love designing and painting but my all time favourite thing to do is cutting
out, I’m addicted to cutting paper. I colour my images with distress inks and
the hours fly by when I start, I sometime only stop when my stomach tells
me to.
What a re t he te chni ques t hat y o u us e m ost o f th e ti m e?
Painting with distress inks and again cutting out.
What a re yo u r " can ' t d o w i tho ut " pr odu c ts?
I couldn’t do anything without papers, papers and more papers, as I don’t own a
die cutter I couldn’t do anything without
my teeny tiny Pergamano curved scissors
either, they are razor sharp and the point
goes through things like a knife through
butter as the holes in my hands can show
lol, my other essentials are my brushes I
use Daler Rowney brushes and my Langton Hot Pressed card oh and not forgetting my guillotine.
51

W hat i nspi r e s y ou?
My inspiration comes from the designs
on the papers I use, I look at one and
know what I’m going to do with it,
which image to use, the colours, shape
and everything else...they are my total
inspiration and when I buy them I can’t
wait to get home to cut them up.

How d o yo u des cr i be y ou r sty l e ?
I don’t think I have a style although I’m
sure someone would disagree with me
lol, I will have a go at most things.
Do y o u blo g ? W he r e c an w e s ee
y our w ork?
My

personal

blog

is

http://
pinkpuds.blogspot.com/ where I ramble
about family, life in general and have a
good old rant now and again...oh and I
post something new I have made on it
everyday
I am on some wonderful DT’s such as
http://www.bunnyzoescrafts.com/
Blog http://
bunnyzoescrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftsandme.co.uk/
index.php
52

Blog http://www.craftsandmestamps.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.funkykits.co.uk/
Blog http://
sugarnellie.blogspot.co.uk/
Hav e you a ny pl a ns f or th e
f utur e ?
I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any plans as such but I
used to teach painting and cardmaking classes and would love to
do some more teaching as I loved
it, meeting all those lovely people
and the look on their face when
their finished card was gorgeous is
so wonderful, I made a lot of really
good friends from the classes.
I would also like to do some more
demoing at shows.
I think people think that because I
paint my images it takes me forever,
it takes me about ten minutes to
paint an image and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m quite organised.
So demoing is real fun and
thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing better than a
natter with people is there and I
have never had any complaints
about being bored with a
demo...well not yet anyway lol
53

54

I like little wooden chests with drawers, because I
always find them very useful to keep all the small
bits and bobs that can appear on a desk.

Timi Konya

I bought on of these drawer units from a craft shop, but somehow I felt that
simply painting them was just not creative enough.
What you will need:
 Untreated wooden drawer
unit
 Acrylic paint
 Patterned paper
 1 toilet roll
 Paper clips
Step 1
Cover the desk organiser with
brown acrylic paint.

I diluted the paint with some
water,
so
the
woodgrain
remained visible.

Step 2
Cover some of the sides with
patterned paper of your choice.
55

I used border stickers from the
paper collection to add some
interest. You can even add layers of
patterned paper, if you like.
Use gel medium to adhere the
paper to the painted wooden
surfaces. When it all dried cover
the whole piece with some more
gel medium to seal the paper.
Step 3
Take the toilet roll and cover it with patterned paper. I
used simple paper glue to do so.
Decorate the tube with some of the border stickers or
just stripes of coordinating paper. Ink the edges.
Glue the decorated toilet roll in the corner on the top
of the desk organiser. Try to hide the seams of the
patterned paper and the border stickers.
Step 4
I wanted a few matching paper clips, so I chose green
and yellow clips and adhered little pieces of
patterned paper on them. Use gel medium for
adhering the paper to the metal.

56

Step 5
Decorate the little drawers with some sayings or mark them so you know
what they hold.

You can add some post-it note pads and use the back panel to clip up some
of those very important reciepts.

57

When I saw the sticky back canvas in one of the new
Papermania ranges I knew that the time had come
for a canvas covered album.

Timi Konya

Below a video tutorial that leads you through how to create the album. The
cover is made from chipboard and the pages are from 6x6 double sided
paper and there is very little scrap at the end. Click on the image below to
watch the video.
What you will need:
 Chipboard for the cover
 6x6 double sided paper
 Sticky back canvas
 Thread and needle

I recently came across a very fun website called The
Nicole Mullen
Noun Project. www.thenounproject.com Their
mission is to
â&#x20AC;&#x153;....collect, organize and add to the highly recognizable symbols that
form the world's visual language, so we may share them in a fun and meaningful way. â&#x20AC;&#x153;
Basically the site is full of fun images to describe nouns. When you visit the
site you will see the most recently uploaded nouns.

When you hover your mouse over the noun image it
will tell you what it is.
I loved the simple graphic nature of the images and decided to use them in a project. My first project is a
card.
59

Project 1
Step 1
Download the images of your choice.
You can search all noun images or by
keyword. I searched for different images
of cameras.
Step 2
I created a Word Document page that
was the size of the card I wanted to print
onto. In my case it was 13cm wide and
26ch tall/long.
I worked out where on the card I wanted
to position my images using the ruler
along the left of the screen to make sure
I did not place them up too highâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;this
would mean the images could print on
the back of the card! I also added text at
this stage.
Step 3
I put my card blank in my printer and
printed my fun yet funky card!
Project 2
Step 1
I wanted some fun non text based journaling
on some little journaling cards I had. Again I
chose what images I wanted and downloaded
them. I then just printed these directly onto
card stock.
I brought them all into Word again just for ease
of printing.
60

Step 2
Print and cut out your images.
Step 3
Glue your images onto
the journaling cards or
even directly onto a layout as a title.
Step 4
I placed my journaling cards in the pocket of the mini layout desktop stand I
made recently. I love how they add some interest and are almost like a secret messageâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;EYE, HEART, PERSON = I LOVE YOU!! Cheesy but fun!
I hope you have fun exploring this different way to create cards or title layouts and create journaling!

The Noun Projectâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;www.thenounproject.com
61

Stamps and Stamping

Timi Konya

Stamping is a huge part of paper crafts, you can use
stamping in card making, scrapboking, art journalling basicly almost
everywhere.
There is a huge range of stamping products out there from rubber stamps to
different stamping blocks.
In this short article we are going to look at the very basics of craft stamping.
Rubber stamps
There are two kinds of rubber used to make rubber stamps: Red rubber and
grey rubber. Rubber stamps have great qualities; they give really crisp
images and they can be stamped into hot surfaces like Ultra Thick
Embossing Enamel. Rubber stamps can be wood mounted or unmounted.
Wood mounted rubber stamps have three layers: Wood block, foam cushion
and the rubber (the actual image).
Woodmounted stamps are ready to use and the only thing you need is the
right ink. Wooden stamps need more space to store if you hava lot of them.

62

When you buy unmounted stamps you need an acrylic block to be able to
stamp.
Unmounted stamps are a lot cheaper than woodmounted stamps, because
you have to supply the handle to your own stamp.
Unmounted stamps come
in two forms. You can
purchase only the rubber
stamp in a sheet or
individual images and
then you need to attach
the cushion to it before
using the acrylic block.

It
can
be
tricky
sometimes, you need very sharp scissors to trim the rubber and foam
cushion. Generally the foam cushion has adhesive on one side, that is where
you attach the rubber to. Or you can buy unmounted stamps with the
cushion.
In both cases the foam cushion has a clingy surface that will stick to the
acrylic block and you are ready to stamp.
The only negative thing
about rubber stamps that
it can be hard to see
where you are stamping.
For this problem some
companies have already
found the solution, they
print the image on the
back of the foam cushion,
so it is easy to see.
63

Most popular manufacturers:
 Hero Arts
 Stampendous

 Penny Black
 Inkadinkado
 Tim Holtz
 Magnolia
 The Greeting Farm
 Whiff of Joy
Polymer or Clear stamps
Clear stamps are very easy to use however they need to be attached to a
smooth surface to be able to use them. This can be an acrylic block
(sometimes I use the B plate from my Cuttlebug die cutting machine).
Clear stamp are almost completely transparent when purchased. The stamps
are little bit tacky so they attach to the acrylic block. More than one
individual stamp can be ararnge on the block to create different designs
when stamping.
Great things about clear stamps that you can see where you are stamping
and that they are really easy to store. There are several storage ideas for
storing the stamps, like CD cases or plastic pockets etc... They are also a lot
cheaper than rubber
stamps.
But they also have some
drawbacks: loss of the
stickyness on the back,
they are easy to tear and
some cheaper stamps
can yellow over time.
Sometimes there are
64

problems with the crispness of the image, but the opinions on this topic
greatly vary.

Foam stamps
Foam stamps are alternatives to rubber stamps. They are made of foam and
great for bold distinctive images. The qualities of the foam allow foam
stamps to stamp bigger images, but they aren’t great to use for small
intricate images.
Foam stamps are mostly used with paint but most of the inks will work with
them too.
You can easily make your
own stamps from Fun Foam:
die cut or hand cut the foam
and attach it to an acrylic
block
with
some
repositionable glue.
Foam stamps are not just for
children! Check out Claudine
Hellmuth’s
or
Donna
Downey’s foam stamps.

Tip: Always look after your stamps. Clean them after each use to prolong life
of the stamp.
Digital stamps
Digital stamps can be downloaded to your computer and then printed. If you
want to colour in the image that you printed you would need a little
experimenting, because sometimes the printed image can
bleed.
You can find digital stamps anywhere on the internet.
There are lots of free images and also bigger companies
may have their digital versions for purchase.
65

If you would like to advertise in Crafting Ireland email us at
info@craftingirelandonline.ie with advertising in the subject line for
more information.
Below are a list of some shops that we shopaholics like to order all those essential supplies from. All these stores are either located in Ireland, or else
ship to Ireland with reasonable rates.

In this issue we will be looking at Nicole Mullenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crafty space and see how
she stores her supplies. Here is Nicole to tell us all about her space....
Hi there and welcome to my (messy) crafty space. I have set up my crafting
area along one wall in my spare room. I will take you through it in the photos
below.
I have two desks side by
side. In the first image it
is a small kitchen table
that is at the perfect
height for sitting and
working at. Under this
desk is a small Ikea drawer unit which you can see
in the second photo.

In the bottom photo you
can see my second desk.
It is at perfect standing
height. It has my eCraft
on top and underneath a
pull out press the holds
my papers.
On top of this press in my
Big Shot and my paper
cutters. I slide the press
out to use these and then
tuck it away when not in
use.
67

My desk has various storage pieces on it to contain all my stuff. On the left
you can see my Ikea storage units, these store embellishments, adhesives
and various small bits and pieces. On the right you can see a small shelf with
folders. These folders contain all my clear stamps and paper scraps.

You can see a close up of the folders on the left below. They hold quite a lot
as they are thick folders. On the right you can see my ink and sprays stand.
This was designed by me and made by my husband.

Behind my eCraft I have a notice board
covered in magnet sheets. I keep all
my thin metal dies on here which
makes them really easy to access.
Most things in my craft room were
bought very cheap, all the shelving was
bought in the Ikea clearance section
over
time for about â&#x201A;Ź3 each. I also
68

picked up all my storage boxes for on the shelves in Ikea. Again mostly all of
them were in the clearance section. This made kitting out my craft room very
affordable. I have lots of open shelving but the boxes all labelled make everything look tidy and organised and hides most of the clutter!

I hope you enjoyed this little peek of my crafty space. If you would like your
space featured get in touch with us at info@craftingirelandonline.ie

69

I love everything about autumn, it is my favourite season, but what I like best are the colours
you find in the leaves at this time of year.

Felicia Thomas

With this in mind I thought I would make some autumnal jewelry but I couldn’t find any leaf themed beads or charms. Years ago when my children were
small they used to make beads from salt dough…. So I went searching for the
recipe and spent an evening making dough leaves!
It’s so simple it isn’t really a recipe at all! Use any cup as a measure; put 2
cups of plain flour & 1 cup of salt in
a bowl. Add enough water to form
dough then knead it well until it’s
smooth.
Roll it out (a little more flour stops it
sticking to your surface) and then I
used rubber stamps to form my
shapes.
Don’t forget to make a hole in the top for the jump ring (a cocktail stick
works well) not too close to the edge, that will weaken it.
Bake it at 130 for 90
minutes (less if you have
only made a few pieces)
and then let them cool.

70

I used some metallic gold acrylic paint as a
base and then added green and bronze Perfect Pearls which gave a lovely iridescent
shimmer.
When you’re happy with your beads its
time to make them into necklaces!
It’s very simple to put together once you
have the right tools:
 you will need a CRIMPING TOOL
 and either ROUND NOSED PLIERS or
THIN NOSED PLIERS.
You can find these at most craft
shops.
You will also need:
 Crimps (tiny beads that you
squash to hold things in place)
 Tiger Tail wire (this is plastic
coated so won’t cause any allergic reactions)
 Clasps & Jump Rings
 A selection of beads in your colour choice (I got a cheap bracelet from Penney’s and took it to
pieces)

71

Step 1
Ok, the first thing to do is measure
your wire – a standard necklace is
17” but you may like to wear it longer or shorter.
Step 2
Now add a crimp bead to one end
of your wire
Step 3
Add your clasp, bend the wire over & thread the end back through the crimp

Step 4
Using your crimping tool, gently
squeeze the bead flat – this will hold
everything in place
Step 5
That little end of wire that is sticking
out there will really irritate your neck
so you need to add some small beads and make sure the end is trapped inside them. Secure them in place with another crimp bead.

72

Step 6
To add a jump ring to the leaf charm you need to
hold the ring in your crimp tool and use your pliers
to open the end put it through the charm and gently close the ring again.
Step 7
The first necklace is super simple, take the loose
end of the wire, and thread it through a round
bead, through the jump ring,
back through the round bead.
Step 8
At the loose end of the wire add a crimp then the
small beads to match the clasp side and 1 more crimp
(hope that makes sense!) fold the end of the wire
back through the crimp to form a loop and use your
crimp tool to secure it.
Step 9
Push up your beads to cover the sharp end of the
wire and secure the crimp, open a jump ring and add
it to the loop.

Step 10
And there you have it, one finished necklace!!

73

For the second necklace you add your
clasps to the ends in exactly the same way
but the important thing here is to check
and double check that you have a crimp
at each side of each cluster of beads.
So, up to step 6 is the same then:
Step 7
Add a small cluster of beads, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
squeeze the crimps yet!
Step 8
Add a cluster; add your leaf charm and a matching
cluster, again, no squeezing yet!
Step 9
Add a small cluster to match the first one (no, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
still not squeezing!)
Step 10
Fasten the ends together and (this makes it a lot
easier) put a piece of Blu-Tack on your work surface
and stick the clasp into it .
74

Step 11
By gently pulling the leaf you will find the center and
can then line up your clusters so they are level. Now
you get to squeeze all the
crimps into place!
Step 12
The finished article!

So, now you have two unique necklaces made from dough, an old
bracelet and a little know how!

75

I have seen wooden rulers being used in altered
projects lately. I decided I wanted to use one to
create the binding for a tag mini book.

Nicole Mullen

What you will need:
 Tags—as many as you want pages in
your book
 Inks & sprays
 Wooden ruler
 Chipboard
 Book pages
 Glue
 Embellishments & stamps
 Ribbon/twine
 Eyelets and eyelet setter
Step 1
Take your tags and ink them up. I used shades of yellow, orange and purple
for mine. Ink up the book pages in similar colours.
Step 2
Adhere the book pages to the chipboard and die cut or hand cut tags
from it to make the front and back
cover for the book.
I also sprayed some lemongrass
glimmer mist on my cover pages to
add a bit of shimmer and sparkle!
76

Step 2
Score your tags and covers at
3cm. If your ruler is wider or
narrower you will have to adjust this figure. Basically you
need to score just to the outside of the with of the ruler.
Step 3
Paint the front cover with
crackle paint to give it an interesting texture and effect and
leave to dry.
Step 4
Cut your ruler down to the
width of your tags. The ruler
will create the binding on the
tags. Mark on it where you want
to punch your holes. You can
use a crop a dile or a drill to
make your holes.
Step 5
Punch holes in your front and
back cover and all the tag pages
to line up with the holes in the
ruler. On the back cover set eyelets and thread with twine or
ribbon, whichever you prefer.

77

Step 6
Thread the twine through to the front cover. Then place the ruler on the top
of the cover and thread the twine right up through it. Tie the twine at the
front in a knot or a bow, whichever you prefer!

Step 7
Decorate your cover as you wish. I am still deciding on a title! I did stamp a
wonderful La Blanch raven on it though. You can also use ribbon as a closure
for the book at this stage if you wish. If you embellish the pages a lot you will
probably definitely need this stage!!
Because each page is scored they all open nicely with the ruler binding holding it all together.

78

This idea could be used to create mini albums, notebooks or any other project that needs binding!

79

80

We have decided to replace our regular challenge with a Swap instead. The
wonderful Felicia of Scrapzville has kindly agreed to host the swap. Some
of you may know that Felicia used to run Scrapzville Swap. Well we can happily say that Scrapzville Swap is back in conjunction with Crafting Ireland!!
For the swap you will be assigned a partner and a theme to follow. You then
create a mini album to send to your partner, and you will receive one in return.
The rules for the swap are quite simple;

 The album should be no bigger than 6"x6"
 It should have at least 6 pages including the front and back covers.
 Please remember that your swap partner (probably) doesn't know you
and the work you send will be their first impression of you - so make
sure that you are proud of your work and would be happy to receive
something similar.

 Please do not sign up for this swap unless you can complete the swap,
your partner may be overseas and you are responsible for postage fees.

 You must have an email address to enter - this means you can contact
your swap partner to discuss favourite colours etc.

 Sometimes people send extra goodies with an album, this is a lovely
gesture but NOT compulsory, therefore it is up to you.

 Please do not expect to receive extras!
 The last and most important rule is.... Enjoy creating!!
81

To join the swap you will need to email your details to Felicia at;
felicia@craftingirelandonline.ie

How to join in
Issue 12 Swap Theme—Autumn
Create a mini book using autumn colours or autumn theme. Whatever autumn means to you!
Sign up deadline—Sunday the 26th August by 1pm GMT. You must
have emailed Felicia your details by this date and time to be included in the swap.
Swap partners announced—Monday the 27th August. You will be
told who your swap partner is, and given their email address so that
you can get in contact to exchange postal addresses, style preference, etc
Albums must be in the post by— Monday the 24th September (or
sooner). Try to get the album posted as soon as you can so that your
partner can hopefully receive it before the next swap is announced!

The swap is open to everyone, no matter where you live.
When you have finished your album consider taking a photo of it before posting it off , and email this photo to Felicia. We will then try
to publish these photos along side the next swap announcement. If
we don’t have the space they can go up on our Facebook wall.

82

Would you like to advertise in Crafting Ireland?
We offer very competitive prices and a readership of
over 50,000 per issue.
Contact us at info@craftingirelandonline.ie for
advertising rates.

out on 1st October.. .
Article submission
If you have an article or tutorial you would like to get published
please email us about it at submissions@craftingirelandonline.ie

Make sure to check out
www.craftingirelandonline.ie for more
information on future issues
83